The U.S. Bounces Back, and Over

American Allyson Felix, 26, has become a dominant force in women’s sprinting.Credit
Jed Jacobsohn for The New York Times

LONDON — The three Americans who won gold medals in Olympic Stadium on Wednesday were competing in different ways. Aries Merritt had to clear 10 hurdles. Brittney Reese had to leave the takeoff board at full speed before treading on the Plasticine strip that marks a foul. Allyson Felix had to sprint the curve and find something new within herself and her famously smooth stride.

But on a triumphant night for the United States, they were all using Olympic regrets for fuel.

Merritt, carrying a sore hamstring and a heavy heart after the death of his grandmother, finished in the cruelest spot — fourth — at the United States Olympic trials in 2008 and failed to make the team.

Reese, hoping to give her hurricane-racked home region on the Gulf Coast a medal in Beijing, finished fifth in the long jump and cried on the bus all the way back to the Olympic Village.

Then there was Felix, one of track’s most elegant women, pegged for greatness since she was a high school star in California nicknamed Chicken Legs and a precocious 18-year-old Olympian in 2004.

There has been plenty of gold for Felix since then. She has won three world championships in the 200-meter dash. She was part of the United States team that won the 4x400-meter relay in Beijing. But the medal that she wanted most — the Olympic gold in her signature event, the 200 — had to wait until Wednesday night.

“It was just a lot of ups and downs,” said Felix, who finished second in the Olympic 200 in 2004 and 2008. “I definitely had moments, but I think the moments that motivated me most was losing on the biggest stage and just never forgetting that feeling.”

Photo

After finishing fifth in Beijing, Brittney Reese on Wednesday became the second American woman to win the Olympic long jump.Credit
Michael Steele/Getty Images

She is 26 now, in her prime. Her long legs no longer look so skinny.

This time she went out convincingly and closed convincingly, holding the lead out of the curve in Lane 7 and fighting off the challenge from Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the two-time Olympic champion in the 100 meters from Jamaica.

Felix failed to win a medal in the 100 here, but she said she believed that switching from last year’s 200-400 double to the 100-200 double this season had given her the extra speed she needed.

Barely blinking down the stretch, she won in 21.88 seconds. Fraser-Pryce was second in 22.09. Carmelita Jeter of the United States, the silver medalist in the 100, was third in 22.14, becoming the first American woman to win a medal in both Olympic sprints since 1988.

In the straight, both Fraser-Pryce and Jeter passed Veronica Campbell-Brown, the powerful Jamaican who finished fourth after beating Felix and every other sprinter to the line in 2004 and 2008.

“Relief,” Felix’s mother, Marlean, said when asked to describe her first emotion after her daughter reached her goal.

Aries Merritt in the semifinals of the 110-meter hurdles on Wednesday. In the final, Merritt earned the first gold for an American man in the high hurdles since 1996.Credit
Jed Jacobsohn for The New York Times

“I just crossed the line and said, ‘Thank you, Lord,’ ” Felix said. “It’s been a long time coming, and I just, before the race, reflected on just the journey, and I thought about Beijing and crossing the line and seeing my family and breaking down there, and tonight I saw them, and it was just complete happiness. I just didn’t want to not take advantage of the opportunity.”

Merritt felt the same way in the 110-meter hurdles, where fortunes can shift in a flash.

Plenty of dominant champions have fallen away through the years, and these Olympics have provided more reminders of the precarious nature of the event. Liu Xiang, the Chinese star who was unable to defend his title in 2008, hit the first hurdle in the first round here and ended up hopping to the finish line. He was taken off the track in a wheelchair with what Chinese track officials have said was another Achilles’ tendon injury.

On Wednesday, halfway down the track, with five hurdles cleanly negotiated in Lane 6, Merritt heard a howl in the adjacent Lane 5. It was from Dayron Robles, the 2008 Olympic champion from Cuba, who had just injured his right hamstring and would soon pull up in pain, pushing over hurdles with his hands in frustration.

But Merritt kept going, smoothly, rhythmically, and his reward was a personal best time of 12.92 seconds and the first gold medal for an American man in the high hurdles since Allen Johnson in 1996.

Jason Richardson, the reigning world champion from the United States, was second in 13.04; Hansle Parchment was third in 13.12 to give Jamaica its first Olympic medal in the 110 hurdles and perhaps signal a new twist on the familiar rivalry between the United States and Jamaica.

There was no doubt about which nation prevailed Wednesday night. The United States not only won three of the four available gold medals but also earned seven medals in all. The United States got a gold from Reese and a bronze from Janay Deloach in the women’s long jump and a silver from Lashinda Demus in the women’s 400 hurdles, which was won by Natalya Antyukh, a 31-year-old Russian, in 52.70 seconds, with Demus very close behind in 52.77.

Photo

Dayron Robles of Cuba, the defending champion, in the 110-meter hurdles.Credit
Jed Jacobsohn for The New York Times

Reese became so caught up in the bigger picture that she lost track of the clock on her fifth attempt in the long jump because she was watching Felix run the 200. Reese ended up jumping 6.65 meters (about 21 feet 9 ¾ inches), well short of her winning jump of 7.12 meters (23-4 ¼) on her second attempt.

“I had to hurry up and run,” Reese said with a laugh. “It’s a great thing to come out here for Team USA and get seven medals in one night. I think we’re on track for what we want to do. We wanted 30 medals.”

Doug Logan, a former chief executive for USA Track & Field, set the 30-medal goal for London before being dismissed. His replacement, Max Siegel, has endorsed it. Although the goal is far from a sure thing, it is certainly within range. Four full days of competition remain, with several strong events for the United States, including the four relays, the decathlon and the men’s triple jump.

Wednesday’s success was no bolt from the blue. Merritt has been the most consistent top hurdler this year, with times of 12.93 seconds in his last three races. Reese, despite her low profile in the United States, has swept all major titles since Beijing. She won two world outdoor championships and two world indoor championships and broke Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s American indoor record this year with a leap of 23-8 ¼.

“The field in general don’t get enough recognition, not just me in the long jump,” Reese said, referring to field events.

Bolt does not have that problem, and he returned to the track for the semifinals of the men’s 200, generating a flurry of flashes from cameras in the stands of the 80,000-seat stadium. Bolt handled his heat with striking ease, slowing to something that resembled a jog in the final 50 meters to win in 20.18 seconds.

His Jamaican compatriot Yohan Blake had to work much harder to win his heat in 20.01 seconds, finishing just ahead of Wallace Spearmon and Christophe Lemaitre.

Spearmon, the only American in the 200 final, will struggle to pose any threat to Bolt or Blake. But the Americans already have one victory over Jamaica in the 200 in London, and Felix’s career is now complete because of it.

2012 LONDON

A version of this article appears in print on August 9, 2012, on page B11 of the New York edition with the headline: The U.S. Bounces Back, and Over. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe